Sunday, 21 March 2010

Waiting at the bus stop!

Still struggling back-wise - so am posting a day early for the Poetry Bus - added to which the plumber is coming in the morning to fit us a new bathroom - so it is all stations go here - back or no back!As for the poem on "rage" - well, as you will see, I find it hard to get really angry about anything these days:-

Rage through the age.

At thirty I ragedabout the bomb;Hiroshima still raw -Coventry, Dresden -horror of warlI held my protest banner highand dared to be counted.

At forty, immersed inEng. Lit, I ragedat censorship. How dare"they" limit what I reador saw?I marched with fervour for achange in the law.

At fifty - in Florence -we sawa march of workers wavingcommunist banners andred flags;we joined in - for the thrill -round and round the Duomo-but the fire had gone, and anywaywe couldn't read their banners!

Is it just me, or doesadvancing agewater down the rage?

Now I thinkwas there any point wheremy protest changed anything?Now I let everythingvanish in thin air;no more ragejust despair.

This is such a powerful poem, Weaver, especially given that you're in pain with your back. The cruelty of the last line's despair makes me want to borrow another's lines: 'Do not go gently into that good night, rage rage against the dying of the light.'

ahhh weaver!! rage is something i didn't feel - despair, frustration yes - now i work to bring goodness into the world rather than crush the bad stuff. it seems a nicer way to spend my energy and has a more positive effect both inside and outside my little world. a clever clever poem weaver. i wish you well soon really i do!!! steven

Sorry to hear your back is still acting up. Not fun. Hope you feel better soon.

Did you ever read John Sarno M.D.'s books on back pain (The Divided Mind, etc.)? He says bad back pain is caused as a diversionary tactic of the mind to prevent repressed rage from bubbling up from our unconscious. He gives a technique for getting rid of the pain which only involves your thinking. Worth a try. Costs nothing, risks nothing and can't hurt. Many (even with diagnoses of slipped or disintegrating discs, etc.) have used it with success, including me.I have a more complete post on it from July or August, 2009.

A real and really fine poem.Wise and true.Believing that the world can change is futile.History shows it never changes Bad may do occasional good (just as good does occasional bad)but intrinsically it will always do bad.Globally we are fecked, but the point of life I suppose is to change ourselves (for the better) and as much of the tiny area around us as we can.Our response (however futile)to the world around us is how we will be measured. It is a sad ending to your poem, anger is less physically and spiritually draining than disillusion but the correct conclusion.Great poem

Glad you went on a few marches Weavo! Get some poteen rubbed into your poor back and get yer boots on!!

Like Acornmoon,I was a little saddened by you final line.I think one has to become a little zen about the whole thing --care passionately about what we can change and then understand that both good and bad will always co-exist.End of sermonbut loved the poem.Do hope back improves!weather much better here and even some daffodils.....

In truth, I think a lot of us will feel some connection with this poem. I don't think the rage of youth is misspent - and I don't find it unusual to lack the energy to bring up that rage as we get older. There's room for protest and for funnelling energy into bringing goodness intot he world (thanks Steven!).re the despair - I'm so sorry about your back and hope you'll soon find some relief.

Weaver,I missed details on what has happened to your back but believe me I truly sympathize. I hope that the poem, which is made truly strong by that last line, overstates your personal feelings but I empathize. Currently, the way people and nations behave in the external world gives much reason to despair of human nature. But for us as individuals, I have found that the extraordinary cycle of seasonal life around us in the country counters much of the despair that world events place before our eyes.May your pain melt away. May your bathroom fittings go smoothly. Have you shared with us what you're doing about your back?

Damn blogger! my comment went into the ether.What I think I said was that if we dont rage or stand up for our rights the powers that be tend to think they have the right to do whatever they like, so letting them know in some form or other is a good thing.Hope the back is getting better.

Oh the rage is still there, but by now we know it's all just too widespread. This poor old world needs a complete makeover. I share Steven's sentiment, but I think good poetry often has a surprise ending. And that reminds me that what I believe is that the Lord has a surprise ending for it all

Hello, Weaver, I'm dropping by for a first official visit as I take the Poetry Bus tour for the first time as well. I believe your poem and claim it as a true description of my own life experience. Your last line is the only valid statement I think you can make. Anything else would be artifice. Yes our youthful exuberance is reduced to something a little melancholy and realistic. We realize how little change we've actually effected on the world around us. I think that causes us some despair. That is my truth, anyway. I share it with you. If you care to follow the link, here's my ride on TFE’s Poetry Bus.

Sorry to get political but don't give in to the despair. Protest is meaningful and has had real impacts and changed the world. Visit http://www.newint.org/ just the best political magazine, keeps you informed about both the problems and the real solutions going on all over the world, read about people who have protested and achieved something. Ok, it can get depressing to know too much about what a crap state the world is in but it always leaves me hopeful.Brilliant poem, really captures something vital, partly about getting older and becoming jaded, but also about growing more distant from the need to protest, a sign of our relative affluence and lack of something in our lives that makes us angry. Not a personal comment about your life, just a reflection about living in general.sorry for the wafflethanks for sharingcfm

marvellous stuff... I was angry for about two years when I was in my late teens.. I stomped about a bit and sulked.. then quickly got bored... This was a great poem and tells it like it is... sadly :-)

I really like the way you've tracked the whole trajectory of your protest to non-protest years - and to have stood up and protested against something at all is admirable, whether you did it twenty years ago or yesterday.I hope your back improves soon - there's nothing worse.

Well, I have to say, Weaver, that I don't find the last line so bleak. Maybe it's because I've never been able to muster rage at all - just lived with despair all the way, and I've pitied those who get themselves in a twist over things I know are futile. I often thought I was born old and should at least (in the interest of fairness) be able to age in reverse. Maybe you and I can meet in the middle?

wonderful Weaver. The end is heartbreaking, but I think we should not despair. Our protests may have little effect that is direct and visible, but I think they are not ignored; they become part of the fabric of our society and we would be much, much worse off if we just let things go on without a word or a banner or a good march downtown.

As a poem I'm with Rachel. As a statement from a spirited...well, post-fifty-ite, I'm a little disappointed. In one form or another, I did all the things you did. Had I not and had you not, the consciousness and the conscience of the world might be in very different shape today. And I remember as a passionate teenager, lost inside a huge duffel coat somewhere near Aldermaston, being mightily impressed by seeing couples every bit as old as my grandparents struggling with banners in the wind. La lotta continua...